


Underneath The Elders: The First Sunrise.

by World_World3



Series: Underneath The Elders [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game), XCOM (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Short One Shot, Starting place for series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:20:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27535141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/World_World3/pseuds/World_World3
Summary: For Millenia the Monsters underneath Mt. Ebott saw the Surface World as a place of Freedom, whether that be Freedom from the Mortal Coil or Freedom in the Prisoner sense depended on the monster. But unknown to them between the Seventh and Eighth Fallen Children, the Surface was Conquered and Stolen from Humanity.Frisk, a veritable Saint among both species and The Eighth Fallen Child, changed. From being completely unmarred by the harshness of the World (represented as Level Of ViolencE 1, the lowest LOVE possible and still being alive) to being raised by a Resistance Cell. But one niggling question plagued Frisk's mind as he journeyed through the Underground:How Could an Enslaved Surface grant the Monsters Freedom?
Series: Underneath The Elders [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2012602





	Underneath The Elders: The First Sunrise.

**Author's Note:**

> AN:Unsure if i should have Floweypot right off the bat. Tactically it does make sense. Don’t know if I can juggle all of these characters and Flowey seems like the easiest to drop and retrieve later once I've got a grasp on everyone. warning written in only a single day.

Footsteps echoes across the highest ridge of Mt Ebott. Many pairs of footsteps in fact. The group reached the edge and gazed upon the rising sun. The Taller Skeleton asked his older yet much shorter brother why the sun isn't responding to his greetings. The young boy at the head of the cluster patiently waited for the monsters to see the city. Holding a flower pot with a genocidal talking flower contained within it.

“That's not right.” Undye said, drawing the group's attention.She pointed at the visible city.

In many worlds, Ebott City was a luxurious example of human ingenuity and well Determination, multiple skyscrapers grasping the air showing Humanity’s dominance over height. Sure its base colors were steel gray, concrete gray, and yellow lighting but that was just the skeleton of the city. The city had numerous more vibrant places that in the Underground would have been separated by climate. Not even counting the billboards! But most importantly it was the home of eight human children, the First of which befriended the Royal Family over a century ago.

But the city was ruined in this world, multiple skyscrapers were leaning against each other, others completely broken in half. The monsters had a feeling that some of said skyscrapers were missing entirely. The city was unlit, save by the rising sun and the still burning fires engulfing the closest quarter of the city. Which truly frightened the monsters.

The Last smiled at the view of his home.

“20 years ago, the Elders arrived from between the stars.” Frisk started. “They attacked all of humanity’s military and numerous cities like the one you see below. Mom and Dad were some of the lucky ones (or unlucky), they didn’t die in the first wave. They however were skilled enough to be snatched up by XCOM, Humanity's last Hope against the Ethereal’s (the pre-rebrand Elders) Horde. Mom was…” Frisk turned to the monsters. “Do you know what a sniper is?”

“The people who attack from very far away like cowards?” Undyne tilted her head.

Frisk hid his glare behind his lidded eyes. “Mom was a sniper and Dad was a scientist, not on the level of Alphys (let alone Gaster.” Frisk ignored the monsters’ confusion over name dropping Gaster), but he certainly pulled his weight amongst the research staff. XCOM fought the Sectoids, the Floaters, the Mutons, and the Chrysalids, just to name a few kinds enslaved under the Elder’s willpower. Repelling the Elder’s counterattack directly at XCOM’s Core (Which, ironically was also underground), though a man named Geist had to be awoken ahead of schedule.”

“Geist was undergoing a procedure to unlock his Psionics. The power to manipulate reality with your very thoughts. You call it-” Frisk opened his eyes, showing the monsters the deepest and most pure purple they had ever seen. “-Determination.” The purple faded to reveal his normal brown eyes before he closed them again. “Geist convinced the Commander of XCOM (our version of Undyne, or is Undyne the Underground version of The Commander?) to upgrade the multiple minor Anthills across the globe into full Hives, Mom and Dad were among the first to follow Geist out of XCOM’s Core.”

“That is the only reason why they survived when the Temple Ship arrived. “ Frisk intoned.

“With the vast majority of humanity’s military killed in the war, XCOM was easy picking for the Full Force of the Ethereals. Geist took the most Psionically powerful among his splinter group and covered the retreat of the weaker (and non-psionically active) members led by Mom (who fell below Geist’s line of power, but psionically active nonetheless). We haven’t heard from him since but there have been rumors amongst the various resistance factions of Warrior Monks wielding Geist’s signature blades of Pure Purple Energy.” Frisk’s smile returned at that thought.

“If humanity figured out how to draw out their Determination and directly weaponize it, then why did humanity lose?” Asgore asked the question upon the group’s mind. “I know for a fact that every Human that fell into the Underground had Determination (I think the only reason why Chara didn’t Load to when her body was healthy, is because Asriel absorbed her soul before Chara could.). Strong enough to manipulate Time itself, if the ...crying of the children and the intense Deja Vu I got upon meeting all of them, including you and that Flower, is anything to go by.”

“Mom and Dad say that they and the others of XCOM did experience Deja Vu like you did. The only one that was unaffected was the Commander and she often moved her soldiers away from fatal mistakes like she knew what was going to happen. Miraculously nobody under her command died, sure they had numerous battle scars, but no lost limbs and no deaths. Then the Deja Vu stopped when the four-armed bastards that dare call themselves Humanity’s Elders arrived on the battlefield....” Frisk trailed off in his answer.

“And then the limbs and dead bodies started piling up. Despite Humanity’s best efforts, none of the Ethereals were even harmed let alone killed. Because the Etherals wrestled control of the Timeline.” Papyrus finished Frisk’s answer quietly. The group barely twitched at Papyrus not being ...shallow.

“For twenty long years the Etherals robbed Earth of its...Everything.” Frisk said wistfully. “The first time I ever saw a Canine was in Snowdin. Earth was ravaged by the Ethereal’s conquest and bundled humanity into City-Centers, the smallest of which are double the size of the Underground. Many cities engulfed by the Lost, the Undead created in the Etheral’s first attack. When I was 7, Mom’s resistance cell had to pass through a Lost-City.” Frisk shuddered at the memory. “They violently swarm towards sound.”

“so that's why this is the most I’ve heard you speak.” Sans made a noise of understanding.

“Mom had to avoid a patrol of Advent (the Official name for the Ethereal’s Hordes.) and thus went deeper than she wanted or expected to. Lost that exploded near alive humans and attracted more Lost with their death-boom. Lost that if they bit you turned you into more lost. And other variants of Lost that weren’t seen outside of Lost Cities. My first kill was a Lost Woman, my next nineteen were also Lost. I think the Lost had reached critical mass and regained their Determination to either revive themselves or fabricate new ones out of thin air. Cause they just kept on coming, and coming, and coming, and coming. Their numbers were simply impossible to be that high after nearly 20 years of Advent routinely sending in specialists to purge them.” Frisk returned to muttering “And coming.”

“SO! That Commander chick, does she have a name?” Undyne asked loudly while grasping Frisk’s shoulders. Undyne ignored Frisk’s purple-eyed glare and merely smiled, waiting for an answer.

“Thanks.” Frisk’s eyes went back to normal brown. “And you haven’t earned her name yet.”

“Fair Enough.” Undyne shrugged and let go of Frisk.

“W-why is the city still burning if the C-conquest was twenty years ago?” Alphys asked. “It-t does explain the famine of new junk for t-the past decades.”

“Advent finally sniffed out Mom’s resistance cell.” Frisk let his hair cover his eyes. “I am the only one left.”

“Surely, there is someone left.” Toriel comforted.

Frisk sadly shook his head and moved Flowey-pot into an elbow to count on his fingers. “It's not a wibbly-wobbly timey wimey thing I can change. King Papyrus? nope Queen Undyne? Nope. Me simply cutting a non-permanent hole in the barrier after not getting spotted by literally anyone in the Underground? Nope. Complete and Utter Genocide and collapsing Mt Ebott to crush whatever remnants that Alphys had squirreled away? Nope. I left a small hole in the barrier to allow phone calls. Sans waas the only one that called before that Fucking Patrol kills me.”

“How did you erase my memories?” Flowey asked before adopting a deadpan expression and placing a vine on Frisk’s mouth. “Determination needs a nerf.”

“Is this the first time you’ve brought us to the surface?” Undyne asked.

“Yes!” Frisk threw his hands up, careful not to drop Flowey. “After cramming six months into a single day, I'm extremely tempted to collapse the mountain again just so I can never see it again!” Frisk sighed. “But its an excellent retreating point if that Fucking Patrol comes around again. That and I need LOVE 20 to do that.”

Frisk, Level Of ViolencE: 9. Monsters killed (in this timeline) 0. Always started at LOVE 9 in every timeline of this world.

“the anomaly didn’t erase all of existence?” Sans questioned.

Frisk face resumed its flat mask that was affixed through the entire Underground. “The Core can’t gather sensor readings after it's crushed. Either the anomaly was false readings, or Flowey before you gave him a Bad Time.”

“W-what about the Amalgams, surely they will help against the Ethereals.” Alphys proposed.

Frisk merely bent over with laughter. “Aah, I needed that.” Frisk shook his head. “Let nigh-immortal (cause they don’t seep out of the Mountain after the Genocides. So I guess a LOVE 20 Human literally dropping a Mountain on them is the limit to their Determination.) blobs of terror meet Advent, which will pick the Etheral’s interest, causing them to come back and engulf Earth in their Determination again? No thanks!” Frisk shuddered. “Let alone Amalgams meeting the Chrysalids. Which during the Invasion, merely embedded their victims with an egg. Which puppeted the dead bodies? And now the eggs wrap their victims in a cocoon which spits out three new Chrysalids a piece, with bog-standard humans?” Frisk shuddered even harder. “Mom’s cell mainly grew by stumbling across survivors of less fortunate cells.”

“Now while you’re still in shock, can we start picking through the still burning ruins of my home? Hopefully getting enough stuff to prevent that Fucking Patrol to stop killing us?” Frisk asked.

The group numbly nodded.

The first and only battle with Asriel Dreemur, God of Hyperdeath (for inside the Barrier), rippled the World outside the Barrier bumping things into and out of place. Finally Volk's Reapers and Betos' Skirmishers and Geist's Templars worked together with the newly-reborn XCOM to Free the Commander on the 20th Anniversary of the Elder’s Conquest. Betos being disconnected from the Psionic Network all those years prior. Right as it should be. But what shouldn’t have been were the variants of the Lost, the Lost infinitely refilling their numbers. And spreading like an actual zombie plague.

What shouldn’t have been was Mt. Ebott itself, and the Monsters themselves. What shouldn’t have been ...Was the Very Thing(s) the Ethereals were running from Attention being drawn so, Early. What should have been was the Commander Herself clad in an Avatar of her Own dealing the final blow, and that drawing their Attention. Though not their forces for at least another five years. Past the Introductory Story of Chimera Squad.

If Frisk knew that Asriel/Flowey was the cause of so many of his nightmares, then Flowey would have been fed roots first into a wood chipper. ...at its slowest speed. But luckily for Flowey/Asriel, that was impossible to learn of. Even for Frisk. Especially since Gaster put all of his scattered-across-the-time-stream strength into such a thing never happening.

**Author's Note:**

> An: yes that does mean the Save Stars are purple not yellow. Also unsure on the Commander’s name, hence why Frisk is referring to the Commander as such even though he should know it. ...oh wait *idea got* The Ethereal/Elder/Final Mission place is not on Earth. Earth is out of Range. The Commander’s Stasis suit prevented her from using Determination outside of her sims. Warlock, Hunter, and Assassin Collectively fall short of Frisk and the Imprisoned Commander.
> 
> Might do a prequel where Frisk is still being rightfully angry and afraid of the Underground. Yes Asriel did push Mt. Ebott of the canon time stream and reality restitched itself, so Frisk is (and was always) a Resistance kiddo. Mew Mew Kissy Cute got replaced by RWBY. ...until you know the Ethereals came.


End file.
